Business case

Providing air, water, rail, and land transportation and related services for the distribution of goods, such as air freight, air courier and logistics services, maritime freight, marine courier and logistics services, rail freight, rail courier and logistics services, land freight, land courier and logistics services, including package and mail delivery and customs agents, as well as storage and warehouse facilities

Logistics Services

Working together with stakeholders and parties in other unrelated industries to implement circular economy strategies and opportunities

Cross-industry projects, pilots

Installing sensors to gather data from products and services to identify, enable and/or implement circular strategies (eg. effective resource use & logistics planning, circular business models & design)

Sensors, monitoring systems

Other

Industries

small_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

thumbnail_coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

coast-wind-turbine-sea-sky.jpg

The principles of a circular economy concern designing out waste, regenerating ecosystems and keeping items in use. Decoupling the economy from material flows—improving the rate of resource productivity faster than the economic growth rate—is also a consistent guide. By evolving with the growing number of applications of circular economy principles, and consolidating these strategies across thematic areas, Circle Economy’s Key Elements Framework (KE) renders the elements of the circular economy salient and serves as a basis to derive contextual strategies and interventions. 


The Framework consists of:
- Core Elements: Activities directly handling product or material flows; and uniquely,
- Enabling Elements: those that remove obstacles for core actors.


Key elements of the circular economy

large_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

medium_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

small_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

thumbnail_photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

photo-1515534238346-fb9ae3e399d0.jpg

Circle Economy's framework of strategies and activities that define the circular economy

Urban Opportunities

![Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png](https://goldilocks-images.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Screen_Shot_2024_10_21_at_16_53_12_12858da6aa.png)

Based on the work of [Bocken et al. (2016)](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/309699661_Product_design_and_business_model_strategies_for_a_circular_economy), the Four Flows Framework serves as a simple framework for managing resource flows in a circular economy by using less (Narrow), using for longer (Slow), using again (Cycle), and using clean, regenerative materials and energy (Regenerate).

These different principles of circular economy can be applied to our socioeconomic metabolism: we can design stocks like buildings, infrastructure, machinery, and vehicles to be rich resource mines for the future, and design manufactured goods and consumables to be cycled and made regenerative. Furthermore, the focus must also centre on getting more value out of fewer materials. Achieving the aims of a circular economy—minimising material use, regenerating the Earth, and preventing material losses—can be done through these four key strategies mentioned above.

Source: Circle Economy. (2023). *[The circularity gap report 2023](https://www.circularity-gap.world/2023)* (p.22). Amsterdam: Circle Economy. 

Four Flows Framework

medium_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

small_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

thumbnail_Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

Screen Shot 2024-10-21 at 16.53.12.png

NEW YORK (Reuters) - IBM and Danish transport company Maersk said they were working together to digitize, manage, and track shipping transactions using blockchain technology. FILE PHOTO - A woman passes by the IBM offices in New York City, U.S. on October 17, 2016. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo The technology, which powers the digital currency bitcoin, enables data sharing across a network of individual computers. It has gained worldwide popularity due to its usefulness in recording and keeping track of assets or transactions across all industries. The blockchain solution being built by the two companies is expected to be made available to the ocean shipping industry later this year, according to a joint statement from International Business Machines Corp and the container unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk. It would help manage and track the paper trail of tens of millions of shipping containers globally by digitizing the supply chain process from end to end. This will enhance transparency and make the sharing of information among trading partners more secure. When adopted at scale, the solution based on the Linux Foundation’s open source Hyperledger platform has the potential to save the industry billions of dollars, the companies said. “Working closely with Maersk for years, we’ve long understood the challenges facing the supply chain and logistics industry and quickly recognized the opportunity for blockchain to provide massive savings when used broadly across the ocean shipping industry ecosystem,” said Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president, industry platforms, at IBM. IBM and Maersk intend to work with a network of shippers, freight forwarders, ocean carriers, ports and customs authorities to build the new global trade digitization product, the companies said. The product is also designed to help reduce or eliminate fraud and errors and minimize the time products spend in the transit and shipping process. For instance, Maersk found that in 2014, just a simple shipment of refrigerated goods from East Africa to Europe can go through nearly 30 people and organizations, including more than 200 different communications among them. The new blockchain solution would enable the real-time exchange of original supply chain transactions and documents through a digital infrastructure that connects the participants within the network, according to IBM and Maersk. Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Andrew HayOur Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Europe

Denmark

large_blob

medium_blob

small_blob

thumbnail_blob

blob

 Maersk 

Sviluppiamo applicazioni cloud native usando sostanzialmente tre cose: il cloud IBM, l'entità di AI denominata WATSON di IBM e OpenShift.
Siamo partner IBM focalizzati su due argomenti/tecnologie AI (visual recognition) e IOT.
Tutto quello che produciamo in Plurimedia è cloud.
Siamo partner Red Hat per Linux e Openshift e per conto di Red Hat seguiamo con particolare attenzione e specializzazione il mondo università e ricerca.
Ci sono tre applicativi Plurimedia di cui spero di aver modo di parlarvi: PLURIH2O, PLURIWORK e PLURIDOC.
Se siete interessati a Plurimedia non esitate a contattarmi: maurizio.galotti@plurimedia.it

Maurizio Galotti

IBM and Danish transport company Maersk said they were working together to digitize, manage, and track shipping transactions using blockchain technology. The blockchain solution being built by the two companies is expected to be made available to the ocean shipping industry later this year, according to a joint statement from International Business Machines Corp and the container unit of A.P. Moller-Maersk. It would help manage and track the paper trail of tens of millions of shipping containers globally by digitizing the supply chain process from end to end. The new blockchain solution would enable the real-time exchange of original supply chain transactions and documents through a digital infrastructure that connects the participants within the network, according to IBM and Maersk. Read more at:

Monitoring shipping using blockchain technology

energies-14-02289 (1).pdf

thumbnail_WCTD2022_campaignlogo.jpg

WCTD2022_campaignlogo.jpg

This collection has been built by a community of passionate researchers, students, and industry professionals as part of <a href="https://worldcirculartextilesday.com/" target="_blank">World Circular Textiles Day</a> (WCTD). 


World Circular Textiles Day takes place every year on 8th October. Our vision is to galvanise the collective ambitions and goals of people, organisations and businesses to reach a fully circular textiles world by 2050. Our mission is to provide a framework for circularity stakeholders to develop and deliver a collaborative, evolving roadmap and to chart circularity’s momentum annually from the 8th of October until 2050.

What does fully circular by 2050 mean?
- Shared textile resources, in the form of products and raw materials, are kept in **continual circulation**.
- Virgin resources are **replaced with circular materials**.
- Dignity, equity, and equality for the **people** involved in all parts of the circular value chain.

We need to know where we stand today to chart how to get to 100% Circularity by 2050. What circular activity is currently happening in the textiles and apparel industry, and where in the world is it happening? The WCTD Collection aims to answer this question by building the world’s largest digital library of circular textiles case studies. 

World Circular Textiles Day is proud to be supported by our 2022-23 Circular Hero Partners:
[Lenzing](https://www.lenzing.com/), [Texaid](https://retailsolutions.texaid.com/), [Bank & Vogue](https://www.bankvogue.com/), [Usha yarns limited](https://ushayarns.com/), [The Conduit](https://www.theconduit.com/), and [Asia Pacific Rayon](https://www.aprayon.com/en/)

## Want to contribute to the WCTD Collection? Sign up and add your circular textiles activities.

World Circular Textiles Day

large_WCTD background.png

medium_WCTD background.png

small_WCTD background.png

thumbnail_WCTD background.png

WCTD background.png

Article / Report

Efficiency gains on operations or transactions either through cultural or technological shifts

Productivity

Reduced use of virgin materials and/or an increase of the use of secondary and bio-based materials

Reduce Material Consumption (SDG12)

Minimise waste through diversion: Instead of sending waste to landfill, it is redirected into other industrial processes for handling, treatment, recycling, recovery, or reuse in various forms. 

Minimise waste through design: At the outset of a process of project, plan and design such that there is zero waste or minimal waste during production, use, and at end of life. 

Minimise Waste (SDG12)

Producing electronics products for businesses and consumers, including cellular phones, personal computers, printers, servers, electronic computer components and peripherals, TVs, audio equipment, as well as household appliances, such as refrigerators, washing machines, etc.

Electronics and Appliances

Producing indoor products for the home and office, such as furniture, including upholstery, carpets and wall-coverings, as well as cutlery, cookware, glassware, crystal, silverware, utensils, kitchenware and household specialties

Home and Office Furnishings

Producing textile and leather products and processing them into apparel and accessories

Fashion and Textiles

Designing products of multiple parts that can be easily disassembled

Design for disassembly

Designing products to remove any barriers to recycling and enable easy recyclability

Design for recycling

Designing products with a single material type to more easily recycle them after use

Design for recycling - mono-materials

Working together with customers to jointly create products fit for them

Co-creation

Developing or utilising online platforms to enable circular economy opportunities through information, product or service offering

Online platforms

Data, knowledge & information sharing

Monitoring & enforcement

VISION:
Products and services are designed for multiple use and material value retention, with maximum positive impact.

DETAIL: 
Imagine a time when…products flow via optimal collection and distribution streams into reusable and repairable product platforms. Reuse and access models are dominant, and products are designed for multiple recirculation before biodegrading (if designed to do so), or being broken down into reusable raw materials for production. People only consume what they need. Production and consumption wastes have been fully eliminated and multifunctional, season-less and timeless fashions are the norm, yet still fulfil our human need for expression and creativity without constraint. All business models, organisations, governments and citizens play a role in maintaining a healthy, functioning circular ecosystem.

Products and Services

Impacts

small_climate-4803653_640.jpg

thumbnail_climate-4803653_640.jpg

climate-4803653_640.jpg

A framework of policy instruments that enabled and encourage the transition to the circular economy

Policies

medium_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

small_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

thumbnail_image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

image-20160922-22514-1aqaw5j.jpg

A framework of policy instruments that enable and stimulate the transition to the circular economy

It is 2050.  Full systems change has taken place. This wouldn’t have been possible without the immediate action and radical steps taken from 2020 onwards. Many targets had to be identified in the early 2020s and achieved by 2030 to ensure that the 2050 goal happened in full. A sense of urgency, turbo stakeholder collaboration, supportive government regulation and clear, data driven targets enabled the mindsets and systems change needed to transform to a fully circular textiles ecosystem.

A circular economics model underpins what we have created. It reflects and supports a living organism made up of makers, users and restorers, interacting across vibrant and interconnected networks. Checks and balances, alongside transparency and accountability, ensure a healthy system. Financial, environmental, and social metrics have the purpose of serving communities and the planet. There is shared ownership of profit and loss – across all three metrics – throughout the value chain.

This is what we’ve achieved over the last 30 years:

WCTD Themes

thumbnail_wctd.jpg

wctd.jpg

 
 
 

Open AccessArticle  by
 *,  and    


Energy, Transport and Climate Policy Division, Wuppertal Institute, 42103 Wuppertal, Germany


*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. 



Academic Editor: Anna Mazzi

Energies 2021, 14(8), 2289; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082289


Received: 1 April 2021 / Revised: 13 April 2021 / Accepted: 15 April 2021 / Published: 19 April 2021
 
 

The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a concept of a policy instrument particularly pushed by policy circles to contribute to a circular economy. The preliminary design of the DPP is supposed to have product-related information compiled mainly by manufactures and, thus, to provide the basis for more circular products. Given the lack of scientific debate on the DPP, this study seeks to work out design options of the DPP and how these options might benefit stakeholders in a product’s value chain. In so doing, we introduce the concept of the DPP and, then, describe the existing regime of regulated and voluntary product information tools focusing on the role of stakeholders. These initial results are reflected in an actor-centered analysis on potential advantages gained through the DPP. Data is generated through desk research and a stakeholder workshop. In particular, by having explored the role the DPP for different actors, we find substantial demand for further research on a variety of issues, for instance, on how to reduce red tape and increase incentives for manufacturers to deliver certain information and on how or through what data collection tool (e.g., database) relevant data can be compiled and how such data is provided to which stakeholder group. We call upon other researchers to close the research gaps explored in this paper also to provide better policy direction on the DPP.
View Full-Text

Keywords: 
resource efficiency; product policy; energy efficiency; digitalization; life cycle assessment; easy-to-repair design
 resource efficiency; product policy; energy efficiency; digitalization; life cycle assessment; easy-to-repair design

►▼
Show Figures
div data-cycle-log=false>

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited



  







Share and Cite  
MDPI and ACS Style

Adisorn, T.; Tholen, L.; Götz, T. Towards a Digital Product Passport Fit for Contributing to a Circular Economy. Energies 2021, 14, 2289.
https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082289


AMA Style

Adisorn T, Tholen L, Götz T. Towards a Digital Product Passport Fit for Contributing to a Circular Economy. Energies. 2021; 14(8):2289.
https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082289

Chicago/Turabian Style

Adisorn, Thomas, Lena Tholen, and Thomas Götz. 2021. "Towards a Digital Product Passport Fit for Contributing to a Circular Economy" Energies 14, no. 8: 2289.
https://doi.org/10.3390/en14082289
 
 


Article Metrics  

 



Germany

The European Union is a unique economic and political union between 27 EU countries that together cover much of the continent.

European Union 

The Digital Product Passport (DPP) is a concept of a policy instrument particularly that has gained increased attention by policymakers due to its potential contribution to circular material flows. It has been mentioned in several EU strategies and was also confirmed in the ‘Council conclusions on making recovery circular and green’. The article seeks to work out implementation options for DPPs and how these options might benefit stakeholders and society by supplying information on the origin, composition and dismantling options of a product. Thus, the implementation of such a tool could facilitate tracking and tracing materials and compiling information in one unique database. By making businesses deliver to these objectives, the obligation to generate high quality product information can be a valuable contribution as regards to designing more sustainable products and their handling once they reach their end-of-life.

Towards a Digital Product Passport Fit for Contributing to a Circular Economy

Account for the systems perspective during the design process, to use the right materials, to design for appropriate lifetime and to design for extended future use

Design for the future

Use digital, online platforms and technologies that provide insights to track and optimise resource use, strengthen connections between supply chain actors, and enable the implementation of circular models



Incorporate digital technology

Employ technologies to gather and analyse data to provide insights on resource use

Data and insights

The shipping industry is currently reliant on two commodities in particular – fuel and steel. And with steel comprising roughly 98% of the volume of a container ship like the Triple-E, a reliable supply of low-cost steel is extremely important for Maersk Line. As a result, the company is now exploring how to prepare ships for quality recycling already in the design phase, and is developing a Cradle to Cradle Passport as the first step on this journey.Currently, when the tradeoffs between maintenance and technological improvements are no longer practical or viable, and a Maersk ship is decommissioned, it is taken to a shipbreaking yard in China. Here, the vessel undergoes a safe and certified recycling procedure. However, due to scale of the product and the vast number of different component suppliers, until now it hasn’t been possible to identify different material types and grades during this traditional disassembly process, so the mixed recyclate loses the quality, properties and value of its previous state. Steel that had been found in seven different grades becomes a low-grade, low-price material.In response to volatility in both steel and fuel prices, Maersk Line have developed a Cradle to Cradle Passport in parallel with the construction of 20 new Triple-E ships, the first of which will be delivered in June 2013. The Passport, a first for the shipping industry, will comprise an online database to create a detailed inventory that can be used to identify and recycle the components to a higher quality than is currently possible.By creating a resource that is flexible, manageable, and can be maintained throughout the 30-year lifetime of a ship, Maersk Line gains an improved understanding of the composition of the vessel that enters the recycling yard. As a result, the materials – including the 60,000 tonnes of steel per ship – can be sorted and processed more effectively, maintaining their inherent properties and hopefully commanding a better price when re-sold.“Ultimately, this is not just about shipping; it is about how we manage steel as a resource globally.- Jacob Sterling, Maersk LineThis project does not only stand to offer significant benefit to Maersk Line, but has wider influence on the way steel recycling is perceived and dealt with globally, explains Head of Environment & CSR Jacob Sterling. With such huge dependencies on fuel and steel prices, reducing the reliance on iron ore is crucial. Increasing the quality of the recycled steel decreases the amount of virgin iron ore required in manufacturing new vessels, so by leading on the improvement of the scrap metal market, Maersk Line begins to mitigate significant steel input costs. The vision is to be able to manufacture a new hull from old, but in the meantime, this process will make the company more resilient to fluctuating steel prices. In addition, the sale of higher quality scrap metal that is not re-used in Maersk Line vessels can be a source of revenue, offering a hedge against rising steel and fuel costs.This is a positive step for new builds, but what of the 600-odd container ships Maersk Line currently has in service? Sterling suggests that some of principles of the Cradle to Cradle Passport could be applied to these vessels, by pulling together strands of existing data. A lot of information exists that describes what the ships are made of but this information doesn’t usually make it to the scrapyard. Moreover, the process of repair, maintenance and upgrade over the 30-year lifetime of a ship can mean that the vessel that enters the shipbreaking yard can differ from that on the engineer’s blueprints. However, Maersk Line is exploring whether they can generate more end-of-life value from within this system, and early signs suggest that 60-70% of the volume of materials in an existing ship could be documented.Those familiar with the Cradle to Cradle philosophy will be aware that emphasis is placed on materials choice and product design. However, this hasn’t been a priority for Maersk Line at this stage. Sterling sees understanding the materials currently used in the shipping industry as an essential step before thinking about substituting materials or re-thinking design. Not only will the Cradle to Cradle Passport enable more useful disassembly and recycling information to be fed back to engineers at the planning and design phase, but if successful, this process will also have a large and vital effect on the way in which steel is arranged globally due to the scale of material under discussion.“The turning point in stakeholder engagement came when our plans went from conceptual to very practical.- Jacob Sterling, MaerskThe success of the project has depended on stakeholder engagement and understanding, and this was one of the early barriers that Sterling and his team faced. There was a perception that the Cradle to Cradle Passport meant redesigning the entire ship, using new technologies or alternative materials, requiring significant research and R&D investment. However, when key parties were made aware of the gains that could be realised simply taking the practical step of recording the composition of the ship, the initiative received greater internal enthusiasm.The team behind the Cradle to Cradle Passport knows that there are real technical challenges still to come, but that this process is vital in beginning to build resilience into an increasingly vulnerable linear business model.

Maersk Line, a Danish international container shipping company, is the world's largest container shipping company by both fleet size and cargo capacity.

Maersk Line

Maersk Line provide trade and transport solutions, for which a reliable supply of low-cost steel is extremely important. They are exploring how to design for recycling through developing a Cradle-to-Cradle Passport (material database). This way Maersk can gain greater control over the materials they use and at the end-of-use cycle reuse materials by ultimately making new ships from old materials.